Why it works: Lemon and sugar are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 18% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes. Both carry 2-nonenal, which smells fatty, green. The science ↓
Macaroon Cream
Ingredients
Directions
Prepare the lemon base
Pare the rind very thin from the lemons and squeeze the juice, straining it.
Pour the juice and rind into 1 quart of water and sweeten to taste.
Make the cream
Beat the egg whites until frothy and add them to the mixture.
Heat the mixture over low heat, stirring continuously until it thickens, but do not let it boil.
Pour the mixture into a bowl and let it cool, then strain it through a sieve.
Return the strained mixture to the heat and add the egg yolks, stirring until thick.
Let it cool again, then serve in small glasses topped with a macaroon.
Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.
Explore the science
The flavor team
The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.
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Lemon + sugartop 18% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together53,532 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
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Lemon + eggtop 19% of all pairsSmell alikelowCooked together44,316 recipes
Shared aroma: (e,e)-2,4-decadienal (fatty, deep fried).
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Sugar + eggtop 21% of all pairsSmell alikemoderateCooked together122,807 recipes
Shared aroma: 2-nonenal (fatty, green).
Lemon and sugar barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 53,532 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.
Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs
What each ingredient does
- Egg whites
- Whipped to a froth, they add lightness and help the cream set as it thickens.
- Egg yolks
- Thicken the mixture as they heat, giving the cream its rich, smooth body.
- Lemons
- Provide the juice for sharp acidity and the rind for fragrant citrus aroma.
The step that matters
Heating without boiling. Egg proteins thicken gently at low heat, but boiling can curdle or scramble them, leaving a grainy cream instead of a smooth one.
Swap the lemon
How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (sugar, egg):
- Vanillafits better
- Raisinfits about as well
- Lemonthe original
- Datesfits less well
Fit is the average pairing score against sugar, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.
“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.
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